Mother's Garden: Recovering from blight

Ruth Foster

Wednesday

Oct 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMOct 28, 2009 at 7:12 AM

I read that 50 percent of people in this country grow food crops at home. It may be just an herb or two, or a whole variety of fruits and vegetables harvested over a many months. As one who has been growing edibles for over 30 years, I can tell stories about failures and successes of all kinds. But one old reliable has always been the tomatoes. Until this year, that is.

I read that 50 percent of people in this country grow food crops at home. It may be just an herb or two, or a whole variety of fruits and vegetables harvested over a many months.

As one who has been growing edibles for over 30 years, I can tell stories about failures and successes of all kinds. But one old reliable has always been the tomatoes. Until this year, that is.

One day, all the leaves on my big vines full of fruit, just wilted and turned brown. Tomato blight had struck.

For all those folks who also didn't have a good tomato year, the UMass Extension Agriculture Services shared some reliable scientific information about tomato blight.

The good news is that it is killed by freezing temperatures and so will not over-winter in the New England region (except in potato tubers). Phytophthora infestans, or late blight as it is called, does not survive in freezing soil, or on weeds killed by cold.

Normally it moves up from the south on wind currents and arrives late in the season, causing less damage. This year, it was introduced very early by infected commercial tomato transplants. (Careless giant commercial growers.) Then it spread in June's wet weather. I was told that two of the biggest commercial tomato farmers went bankrupt this year.

What to do? Clean up the garden carefully this fall and throw out in the garbage all black or wilted leaves, fruits, stems and roots.

Don't mulch with any infected plants -- not tomatoes, nor other vegetables, flowers, or perennials that look wilted and blackened. Let the ground in next year's garden freeze over, and, if possible, rotate crops locations.

For more info see: hort.cornell.edu/department/Facilities/lihrec/vegpath/ibfaq.pdf.

Belmont Citizen-Herald contributor Ruth S. Foster is a landscape consultant and arborist. Her Web site is mothersgarden.net.

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